The Complete Richard Allen, Vol. 1: Skinhead, Suedehead, Skinhead Escapes

by Richard Allen

Three great novels in one book by the king of youth cult fiction, Richard Allen. Aggro - That's what Joe Hawkins and his mates were looking for, with their shaven heads, big boots and braces. Skinhead portrays with horrifying vividness all the terror and brutality that has become the trademark of those vicious teenage malcontents. Suedehead sees Joe grow his hair and swap his boots for a velvet-collared Abercrombie coat. His aggro days are over-but his city-slicker days are just beginning. Joe's exploits of violence and anti-social behavior were cut short by a prison sentence. But in Skinhead Escapes Joe Hawkins is on the loose again. With a vengeance to fulfill!

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

'Richard Allen' is the name on the front cover of the million-selling Skinhead books. The name was thought of by the editors at the London publishing firm New English Library and given by them to Jim Moffatt, one of a number of hack writers who churned out their books to order.

Born of Irish extraction, Jim Moffatt went to Britain and learnt his trade writing up to six stories a week (thrillers, spies, Westerns) for pulp fiction magazines. He moved on to writing books, and by the mid-seventies reckoned he had produced 250 in the previous 20 years, at a rate of 10,000 words a day when deadlines were approaching. Meanwhile, the managing director of the ailing New English Library imprint was desperate to make inroads into a new audience of younger readers; his editorial board came up with the idea of commissioning a novel set in the emerging skinhead subculture. In six days Moffatt wrote Skinhead. The book was an immediate hit, and many of its youthful readers were convinced that the author was a real hooligan, not a 55-year-old Canadian who always wore a jacket and tie and whose lurid tales of sex and street violence were written from the same seafront cottage in Sidmouth in which he also penned a column for the local paper. Soon after Skinhead Farewell Moffatt's real-life relationship with NEL came to an end.

Moffatt died of cancer in the early nineties, just at the time when the skinhead style was coming back into fashion.

Reviews

[Jordan West · Rating 1 out of 5]

If rather than driving a hack, Travis Bickle instead became one, churning out pulp paperback novels in order to pay the bills and find an outlet for his simmering rage, those books would most likely resemble Allen's pretty closely. The novels are permeated with the desire to at last see a real rain wash the scum off the streets; characters representing law and order assail the decadence of 'the permissive society' and 'the welfare state', speculating on how a dictator could take care of the skinheads and other undesirables and make England great again. At the same time, Allen seems very much in sympathy with his brutal, bigoted protagonist and his violent antics, vicariously thrilling in the attacks upon immigrants, gays, and 'longhairs', which are cast in a disturbingly celebratory light. (To be fair, its made quite clear what the reader is in for from the opening introduction, where the author refers to his character and the real-life skinheads that inspired him as "essentially, patriots fighting for a heritage", betrayed "when many in high places yielded to pressures from beyond our shores". Ah yes; now where have I heard that one before?) As the document of a specific time and place - and as an all-too timely exhibit of the authoritarian mindset- it is not infrequently fascinating, but as fiction, even of the pulp variety, it's sadly not much of a pleasure guilty or otherwise, and more of a chore to read than anything.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is kind of in the same vein as that crap I read sometimes like The Penetrator, or Nick Carter. The stories are really cookie cutter. The skinhead does some bad things, maybe beats up hippies or something, he does something else bad, and then he gets caught and he goes to jail. The next story he gets out, finds that being a skinhead now means being a suedehead (....oh i was a good lay, good lay), which is like a skinhead with hair, does some bad stuff, gets arrested. Guess what happens in the third book? He gets out of jail, does some more bad stuff and goes back to jail. Kind of repetitive, but still fun.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps in one word "explotation." But on the other hand the mysterious Richard Allen wrote numerous books about sub-culture British teenager groups and all of them fiction and probably to make a fast-buck (pound). Nevertheless it's fascinating to see how a sub-culture survives and is mirrored via the written word or narrative. I think to look at a culture, one must also take in the literature that is either produced in this group(s) or by an outside observer. And if nothing else, it's a remarkable document of that group. One wonders if Morrissey read these stories - for sure the always interesting Stewart Home has. Fascinating!

[Mikepottz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skinhead - Joe hated his parents, where he lived, his neighbours, he wanted out of this dirt and filth. He put on his uniform; union shirt, army trousers, braces and boots! Boots were the most important, heavy to wear and heavy to feel when slammed against ribs. His eyes portrayed thuggery, brutality and non conformity. His mob were like a pack of wolves beating senseless train passengers and a guard on the way to Stamford Bridge, fists landing doc's slamming, blood pouring, revolting, sickening, the unwarranted violence was the norm. Joe gets a bottle to the head at The Shed a Chelsea fan pounding it down hard. Joe only a local hero wants more authority, to be a leader of a bigger mob but had never done porridge and hadn't been written in the papers. Walking down the street they see an Asian student and like swarming ants over tasty morsels they kicked and kicked. They didn't see him as human, just kicking for their perverted pleasures. Joe only understands violence for violence sake, no remorse he is a sociopath, fighting society, fighting his class, fighting his indulgences, a walking ticking timebomb of annihilation.
Suedehead - Getting 18 months Joe was shocked he would now be eating porridge, being preyed on by sex offenders but doing a course in office procedures Joe had bigger things on his mind. Joe gets a job with a well reputable company as a junior clerk thanks to his ability to cut corners learnt in prison. Now Joe is wearing pinstripe suits, clean white shirts, conservative ties, colourful socks and funnily thinking how clothes change a guys outlook. Soon his hair would be suede, smooth, elite, expensive. Joe now had smoothie expensive tastes and ambitions as he moved into the pub. A man propositions him on the train. Joe goes to his place, kicks the shit out of him, steals his money, his silver, his cufflinks and transistor radio. His desire for aggro back and he needs money to continue his new expensive lifestyle. The suedehead status, umbrella tip as a weapon he could still continue his antisocial, anticonglomerate behaviour and nefarious activities while holding down a job. Soho alive with its porno shops, johns trying to get laid, not a place for the weak but Joe strode down without a care in the world. Joe will double cross a newly found friend of drugs and sells them to continue his new lifestyle. Joe will use his mind instead of his steel capped boots in the balls to fulfil his lust for life. Who needs to be a leader of a skinhead group? Those days are done and with some connections see him in a nice flat in view of Marble Arch from his window. Joe finds some like minded lads and go to a Chelsea game and stab and slash fans with his trusty sharp tipped umbrella. Joe can't hid his aggro loving personality but is now a suedehead, semi educated, partially polished enjoying a charade of decent citizen but still able to crack innocent skulls. He will lose his job and slash the throat of an immigrant thus getting arrested and sent away for 4 years. What kind of person will come out after that?
Skinhead escapes - Joe in the right place at the right time manages to escape from prison by smashing/caving in an escapees face with a broom and climbs over the wall via a rope ladder. Joe is now on the run. He will rape a girl violently, no regard for her feelings, a complete evil, sick sociopath seeking his own pleasure and doesn't give a fuck about anybody but Skinhead Joe. He needs to get to London, a place to be ignored just a face in the crowd to blend in and not be seen by the fuzz. Times were changing Skinheads to Suedeheads to now Boot Boys all the same with some subtle differences. Joe is not only wanted by the fuzz but an underworld figure wants his balls crushed. A plan to grab money from ladies carrying them to the bank was conceived by Joe and a few friends. Joe will pump a fuzz in the back with a shooter as they escape stealing the money. Joe is a shit driver and has to opt for public transport. Joe is now making the rounds of the news and papers a cop killer. He will pump another fuzz after a random stop. Joe will continue stealing money go to a football game and use a revolver to smash into the face and knock out teeth of Chelsea fans. His aggro still part of his DNA and can never be freed. He will end up back in prison. This one is the worst. Moffatt just dialled this in.

[Chris Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for everyone,
but a really good yarn,
much in the tradition of
A Clockwork Orange.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn't that well written. Its characters are stereotypes. Frankly, it gives a subculture a bad name. I still liked it, though. It is pulp fiction, meant to be entertainment and hardly aspiring to anything beyond that.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

have yet to read suedhead and skinhead escapes, a nice yarn

[Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Signed Copy, 1992 edition.

[Wilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pulp, youthfiction, brutal, recogniseable, not so nice, moral stories, no depth, good research, addictive, nostalgia. The complete Allen series...